When a person decides to install lights in his garden or outside his house, the first thing that comes into his mind is the driveway. There are many who believe that driveway lighting is of no use as cars themselves have got headlights, which assists in navigation. However, you should understand the fact that driveway lights are not only for the purpose of eliminating dark, it also improves the look of your home and makes it appear more stylish – a true sign of great outdoor lighting. If you have a long driveway, then the illuminated driveway looks even more beautiful. It turns your house in a grand landmark and also provides the visitors with a warm welcome.

There are many methods by which you can illuminate the driveway. Down lights or wall mounted spotlights are more suitable if you have one long wall running parallel to the driveway. Whereas, if the height of the wall is low then you can go for wall-recessed step lights, which are installed few inches above the ground level and provide horizontal beams across the driveway. The spacing between the driveway lights should be carefully determined. You should try to ensure that the illumination does not overlap and should give a beautiful triangular pattern on the surface of the driveway. The most popular method of driveway lighting is bollards. In these, lights are projected downwards and horizontally around 360°, in order to illuminate the surrounding areas. If you have a garden surrounding the driveway then also, you can install them in the soils using spike mounted versions. The flange mounted versions is used for hard surfaces like brick, paving, concrete etc. Great for low voltage driveway lights too, and most any kind of outdoor lights.

In case you reside in a rural area, then you might find that bollards are more contemporary and urban and they do not go well with the theme of the house. If so, then you should consider bollards which are made up of solid copper. These dull down rapidly and blend with the surroundings. Lighting technology is another factor to which you should pay attention to. If you want to use halogen lighting then you surely need transformers to reduce the voltage to 12 volts. Nowadays, there are many transformers available in the markets which are compact and moreover, they can be buried under soil, in case you want to hide them from view. A new trend is driveway lighting is installing lights on the driveway surface to illuminate trees. However, for this you have to make sure that any outdoor lighting for the driveway should be robust enough to bear the load of the vehicles passing over it.

Installing driveway lights is not as difficult as it seems. In fact, if you have right tools, knowledge and information then you can easily complete this task in a very short period of time. The degree of complexity involved in installing driveway lighting may depend upon the layout of the area, distribution of the lights and some other factors. This article will provide you an insight on how to install driveway lights and will make you aware of some important factors that you should keep in mind before installing these lights.

The first and foremost step in installing these lights is, conducting a survey. It is important to know the terrain conditions and the topography of the area, which can only be determined with the help of a survey. It is not that you will need a very high detailed map of the area but it is essential that you have a drive to scale map. Once you have the map showing various ground features, you have to then decide about the source of electricity. For this, it is advised that you take help of an electrician to confirm whether the present electricity load will be able to bear the load of driveway lighting or not. In case it is unable to bear the load then you should make arrangement for alternate source of electricity.

Check out below a new installation of driveway lights with a remote control demo, very cool.

The third step in installing driveway lights is the placement of these lights. It is not that you place them randomly. They should be placed strategically, so as to give the best light effects. Even though placement of these lights is not a science or an art, but you should keep in mind some rules while installing them. For every double headed driveway light you should keep a distance of about 8-10 meters between two consecutive lights. Also, try to keep the cables of the lights on one side of the driveway as it helps in saving money. A junction box or a precast manhole will also be required to complete the setup. A junction box will be required for each light. For digging trench and installing driveway lights you have to take help of professionals. It is important to install them properly and safely, in order to avoid any accidents. A new trend that has recently emerged in driveway lighting is the use of photo sensitive cells. These cells automatically adjusts the intensity of light according to the intensity of natural light available.